Reading List of the Month Archives - Page 2 of 2 - The Indelible Rambings of a Wadzi

Action June 15, 2012

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

I was incredibly skeptical to read this book, which is the first of the new Blood of Eden series. I know the saying goes ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’, but I’ve long since given on it. I judge books by their covers and I’m not ashamed. Kagawa’s cover is quite simply morbid and terrifying, though artistic. What’s more, I just didn’t want to read another vampire book. I liked the Twilight saga to begin with, but Bella annoyed my senseless, and I now no longer have a clue what I first saw in the series. Melissa de la Cruz’s Blue Bloods series is the only other series I’ve read with vampires and the thing is, they’re more than that. Nonetheless, I read an excerpt of Kagawa’s new book, wanting to give it a chance- especially after hearing good reviews about it.

The Protagonist

I liked and admired Allison Sekemoto. Her voice didn’t irritate me, as some female protagonists have in the past. I felt sorry for her in the beginning, after seeing how awful her life was but I doubt she would want my pity. She is strong willed and very determined. This reminds me an awful lot of Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. The world that they live in has shaped them and forced them to become very self reliant and independent. The difference is that Allie believes that it’s everyone for themselves, whilst Katniss looks after her family and even hunts with Gale. Although you can say that because Allie is part of a small group of Unregisters, they are not her family and she admitted that she would never sacrifice herself for any of them.

Allie has always hated vampires and I can’t blame her. I found it a bit hypocritical that she became the creature that she most loathed, but I understand that the human to want to live. Her choices were simple, become a vamire and ‘live’, or die and possibly become a rabid. Allie’s vampire transformation reminded me of Aislinn’s change from human to faery in Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series, as she too hated and feared the creature she would become. The main difference is the whole near death experience, which Ash was not in, and the choice, as Ash had none.

Allison is stubborn, often disagreeing and going against her creator’s commands. This stubbornness does help her control the blood lust later on, when she is a vampire though. She is at first a little naive, hoping to be a ‘good’ vampire, but she eventually comes to terms with the fact that she is a monster. Thankfully, this doesn’t make her give up on humanity, as she became very attached to a group of humans that she travelled with.

Allison is a kick-ass, katana wielding bad-ass!

Kanin, the Creator

It’s never said how old he is but all I know is that it’s been 60 years since the Red-Lung disease first hit the world, becoming a wide spread plague. Kanin- this may or may not be his real name, I think not- is the infuriating secretive type. The sort of person who can be very cryptic. It’s no wonder he doesn’t just speak in riddles. That really would drive me insane. At first, I thought that he was slightly cruel, but we learn why that is so. He is a very lonely character, telling Allie from the beginning that they would not be able to travel with one another for very long. He is blunt to a point, telling Allison quite clearly what she is- a monster. I wanted to laugh out loud when he said that animal blood is junk food. Tell that to Edward Cullen! It’s hard to say whether I like him or not. A part of me dislikes him for… well, you’ll find out. But then again, he’s so filled with self loathing, a part of me want to hug him real tight and tell him it’s all going to be okay. He’d probably just tear my throat out. Or maybe not. He seems to be very in control of himself.

Zeke, the Human

Oh my gosh! How can such a lovely person exist in such a world? He reminds me of Peeta for this reason. Peeta had never known the true harshness of District 12, as his parents were bakers. This didn’t make him wealthy or anything, just not a starving street kid. Zeke has all the traits you look for in a YA love interest. Unless of course you very much inclined towards a bad boy, in which case, look elsewhere. Zeke, first and foremost, is the son of a preacher man. I like Zeke’s morals. He doesn’t like to ever leave a man behind on the group’s dangerous travels. He believes that there is good in humanity, and he doesn’t like to turn anyone who wishes to travel with the group. Even a dangerous vampire like Allie, you ask? No. Even he doesn’t stretch that far, unfortunately. I like Zeke because he’s like a beacon of light in an otherwise dark world.

The Dystopian Society

The dystopian world that Kagawa created is the sort of thing I’ve only ever heard in movies. The sort of movies that I would never watch because I’d be peeing myself from fear. Yet somehow it’s alright to read about them. Don’t ask me how that works, but it just does. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels that way. Growing up in a vampire city, Allie and other humans are treated as blood cattle. They are allowed to live because vampires need them and therefore allow them to. Allie lives in a run down place called New Covington, in the Fringes of sector 4. Sound a little bit Hunger Games like? Yeah, I thought so too. Strangely enough, the centre of the vampire city isn’t much like the Capitol at all. It’s just as run down as the rest of the city. Humans actually have a choice about whether they want to be Registered or not. If they become registered, they are the property of Prince Salazar, the Master vampire of the city. This means that twice a month, they must donate some of their blood. If they miss a bloodletting, guards come and take all the blood that is owed by force. Now imagine if you were sick, or had missed multiple blood lettings.

But vampires are not the worse creatures around. Outside the Wall of New Covington, and around the entire world, ferocious creatures called rabids roam around. Neither human nor truly vampire, they are mindless creatures whose only priority is to kill. Like vampires, they are ‘allergic’ to the sun, but by night, they literally erupt from the ground and prowl the lands. In my mind, they are like vampire-zombies.

The Plot

Kagawa divided her book into four parts.

Part I: Human- This is rather like an introduction into Allie’s world. We gain an insight into her hard life as an Unregistered, living in a vampire city. I enjoyed this part because we got to know what Allie was like before she was a vampire.

Part II: Vampire- After being Turned, Allie gets coached about the ways of the vampires by her creator. I’ve heard some people criticise that they would rather have had Allie figure things out on her own. Realistically, I don’t know whether she would have survived all on her own. Kanin taught her how to fight, and the basics of what being a vampire was. He also told her a handy trick about burying oneself in the dirt to avoid the sun.

Part III: Monster- In this section, Allie fights her inner demons as she tries to avoid the savageness that is her inner vampire. It’s the part of her that sees humans as nothing more than food, that will kill first, ask questions never.

Part IV: Wanderer- Allie is on her own again, and she tries to find some sort of purpose in her ‘life’, beyond sating the Hunger.

Overall, the book is rather evenly paced throughout, but most of the really good stuff happens towards the end. This kind of sucks but I didn’t mind. Everything came together and the pieces of the puzzle finally made sense. Throughout the novel, we are given fragments, and Allison has to put them together. There are a few things that I saw coming well before Allison, but maybe I’ll put it down to all the ‘near death’ experiences and the Hunger gnawing down at her.

Overall Impression

This book was actually good, considering that I had been incredibly skeptical. I fell in love with Kagawa’s faeries, and now I’m captivated by her vampire world. I realised when she met up with the travelling group why it’s called Blood of Eden, and I thought it was really clever. Having faced betrayal earlier on in the book, I wasn’t sure how things were going to go in terms of Allison’s growth. I was disappointed that the crazy, poetic vampire didn’t feature very much, and I can’t wait to see this psychopath in the sequel. The ending of the book was alright, as it’s rather bitter sweet, but I liked that it ended with her fighting more rabies. This is because it emphasised the danger of the world Allison lives in but also highlights her bad-assery. As for the romance, I’m only going to gloss over this because it is not the main feature of this book. I’m pretty sure you can guess who the love interest is. It’s very interesting that the prey and predator are in love, more so than in Twilight because we get to see what it’s like for the vampire to try and resist. Like The Hunger Games, and actually, many other good books, their are casualties. Being a dystopian book, however, more people die than usual. I remember that the first significant death in The Percy Jackson series wasn’t until Book 3, and Book 4 had quite a number of deaths. If this is how bad it is in the first book of The Blood of Eden series, I can’t imagine how heart-wrenching the sequels will be.

My Rating:

Action June 6, 2012

The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

I hadn’t initially intended on reading this book. I was satisfied with the ending of The Iron Queen. What can I say? I like a good tragedy from time to time. If I can’t have Ash, no one can! But honestly, it took until the end of this book until I was satisfied with Meg’s decision. In the first book, I won’t say that I didn’t like Ash. The whole ‘I’m going to kill you’ thing was actually kind of amusing. But I was Team Puck for the majority of the time, and by the third book I still hadn’t truly made up my mind. The Iron Knight erased all doubts. And this is why….

But first, let’s take a while to look over at the synopsis and awesome trailer.

Ash, former prince of the Winter Court, gave up everything. His title, his home, even his vow of loyalty. All for a girl… and all for nothing.

Unless he can earn a soul.

To cold, emotionless faery prince Ash, love was a weakness for mortals and fools. His own love had died a horrible death, killing any gentler feelings the Winter prince might have had. Or so he thought.

Then Meghan Chase—a half human, half fey slip of a girl— smashed through his barricades, binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. And when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey, she severed their bond to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen, ruler of a realm where no Winter or Summer fey can survive.

With the (unwelcome) company of his archrival, Summer Court prankster Puck, and the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin, Ash begins a journey he is bound to see through to its end— a quest to find a way to honor his solemn vow to stand by Meghan’s side.

To survive in the Iron realm, Ash must have a soul and a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible. At least, no one has ever passed to tell the tale.

And then Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that turns reality upside down, challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Book Cover

Beautiful, as usual. It was nice to have Ash at the front and Puck at the back, with that slight rueful smile. Once again the theme is blue for Winter, as it was in The Iron Daughter. I used to have a thing against seeing faces on covers as it doesn’t give me much room to imagine what the characters look like for myself. Unfortunately, many YA books still have photographs of characters on the front cover. For the most part, however, Kagawa’s books have been handled with care and the characters look more or less how I would imagine them. But on to the important things that the author actually has something to do with.

Settings

I have this thing about descriptions. I like them. They’re very important as its what lets you truly imagine. But I have this awful tendency of skipping them when they get too much. I think that Kagawa handles them with care though. It’s not over the top but it’s enough, and very well done. This is especially important in fantasy books because impossible settings are brought to life. I particularly liked her description of The End of the World and the river that they followed.

Characters

Grimalkin & the Wolf: What can I say? Their banter was the next best thing since Puck and Ash. The cait sith is forever calling the Wolf a dog, and he takes great offence to this, of course. I hadn’t expected to like the Wolf, though I never got to read Winter’s Passage, which is a shame. Still, it was very clear that the Wolf was bad news as soon as he appeared, and I was terrified he’d kill someone I loved, like Puck! I mean, pffh, of course Ash was going to live. Grimalkin was the same old, same old. Infuriating, cryptic, and wise. Kagawa even slipped in his famous line: I am a cat! Love it.

Ash: This is his story and it was a pleasure to finally get into his mind. I was mad that he was only doing this whole quest to keep his stupid oath so that he wouldn’t unravel and die, or worse. In the end, I was satisfied because he made up his mind on his own, with no oath to dictate his decision. Throughout the tests, he finally found out what it meant to be mortal, and he came to finally face all the horrors he had committed in the past. Ash really grew in this novel and I loved seeing him finally discover who he is really was. Not Ash, the Winter Prince- the cold and ruthless faery he had come to despise. He is the Iron Knight.

Puck: This book wasn’t about him, of course and as usual, we didn’t get to delve too deep into his character. On the other hand, I think that he was vital in this novel. Puck was Ash’s best friend before Ariella died and he swore to kill him to avenge her. He provided the comic relief, as usual, which was good because this quest was very important and death defying. The two of them finally resolved the feud between them and I just wanted to cry from the bromance 😀

I know that there is another vital character that I’ve missed out but mentioning them would be a spoiler!

The Tests

Having recently read The Goddess Test, I wasn’t expecting much. Having finished the book, I was just overwhelmed with the AWESOMENESS it radiated! It was… awesome! I was surprised that they all had to have these almost tests (running the gauntlet) to get to The End of the World. They were tests of strength and knowledge. Trust the sphinx’s to give an impossible riddle. Ash had three tests on his own, given to him by the Guardian so he could understand what it meant to be mortal. I don’t want to give too much away about them but I can’t believe that these tests were this hard. How is it that in YA books, the tests for mortality (the soul) is harder than the tests for immortality (The Goddess Test)? Very strange.

Ending- Tying up the loose ends

The ending was incredibly romantic and although their were no church bells, there really didn’t need to be! I’m honestly going to have to say that I’m glad that they didn’t leave the Wolf behind, despite what Grimalkin had to say. Puck will have to get over Meg at some point, and I hope that he appears in the sequel series, The Call of the Forgotten: The Lost Prince being the first book. So now I am finally, truly and utterly, Team Ash!

My Rating:

Five Stars

Fantasy June 4, 2012

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

I give this one four starts

VERY GIRL WHO HAS TAKEN THE TEST HAS DIED.

NOW IT’S KATE’S TURN. It’s always been just Kate and her mom–and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate’s going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear that her mother won’t live past the fall.Then she meets Henry.

Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld–and if she accepts his bargain, he’ll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests.Kate is sure he’s crazy–until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she suceeds, she’ll become Henry’s future bride and a goddess.
-Synopsis from Goodreads

So I finished this last week actually but it took me a while to write the review. This is yet again, another Greek myth adaptation novel, and I think in many ways it worked, in others it did not.

Once I finished this novel I loved it. I enjoyed watching the protagonist grow slowly, and of course the romance between her and Henry was good. For once, the couple did not fall madly in love all of a sudden, and they got to know each other instead before the protagonist fully made up her mind. The prologue captured my attention, making me ask a lot of questions, and one of the underlining mysteries is who is killing all of the girls? And is Kate next? Although some reviewers on Goodreads said that they saw the killer coming, others were more honest and were surprised. I am one of them.

In this novelisation, the Greek gods are real, but not as we have known them. I wouldn’t have minded this idea if it had been executed better. So Aimee Carter changed how the Persephone story ended- and let me make it clear, Kate is NOT Persephone- and I was fine with that. But how is she to make me believe that the Greek gods are NOT the lustful, wrath filled gods I know them to be from mythology? Zeus’ speech in this novel was in this way incredibly hypocritical and I just didn’t get why Carter changed it all. I was able to guess half of the identities of the gods before I saw the list at the back (WHICH YOU SHOULD NOT READ BEFORE YOU FINISH THE NOVEL! Seriously it’ll ruin the whole damn book!).

I loved Kate’s relationship with her mother and her friendship with the mean girl was not one that I initially saw coming. Kate’s mum is dying from cancer and any day soon, she will be gone. Henry’s deal with Kate was incredibly moving, even if he didn’t see it as a big deal. Which brings me to Henry/ Hades…

Let’s face it, Hades in myth is bad-ass! Henry is not. I don’t want to give away too much but whilst in some ways he was a good god of the Underworld, sometimes I just thought that he was simply sad. I thought that the way he never stopped loving Persephone was sweet, but only to a point. The whole self-loathing thing I guess I can understand, but I wish he’d been more powerful. Sure he brought back people from the dead, but that is such an un-Hades thing to do. Still, I think the character stood on his own and I actually ended up really liking him! Thank you Aimee Carter! Next time add just a sprinkle- or a fist full- of bad-assery. Can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel!

Fantasy May 28, 2012

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

I read this weeks ago but between procrastinating and revising for my AS levels, I haven’t had time to review this. So here it is!

I won’t even lie. I saw this at my local bookstore and just went ‘Wow! Fabulous cover!’ But at the time I had been looking for another book, so I took a note of this one and then googled it. After reading an excerpt, I was hooked. There were so many unanswered questions, left by the air of mystery. What was the Feed? Who was Cole? Enticed, I readied myself for another visit to the bookstore, and I was left spellbound. So here is the summary that I found on Goodreads:

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she’s returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld… this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s a problem:

Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki’s time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she’s forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s…

So, my first disappointment was that this dress didn’t actually feature in the novel. Nikki wore the same black dress to two different events, but never the stunning red one that is on the cover. I can forgive Ashton for this, but I have a thing against unrelated book covers. Yes, I’m talking to you Stephanie Meyer. Neither her titles nor her illustrations have anything to do with her novels. Eclipse is the one exception as I believe it to be a metaphor for the love triangle. And they even tried to get the apple to link in during the first movie. But I’m getting off topic.

This book left me gasping and crying. So much for her happy ending. I don’t mean to give anything away, but if you intend to read this, be prepared for some heartache.

I loved the use of mythology in this novel. It’s funny that I read it right after The Kane Chronicles and it somehow managed to link, even though the other other trilogy is based on Egyptian mythology and I was led to believe that Everneath was based on Greek myth.

My favourite character was Jack, without a doubt. Cole was strange, but I liked him in a ‘I love to hate him’ sort of way. He reminded me an awful lot of Paul Slater from Meg Cabot’s Mediator series, as both characters seem to be infatuated with the protagonist, but she isn’t interested. And they are both very creepy.

I RATE THIS A 4/5! You can’t go wrong reading this. Unless you hate romance, then maybe you should try something else.

Reading List of the Month May 26, 2012

Juggling!

So I have this slight problem with reading one book at a time. I’m aware I’m not the only one. But this has gotten really bad. If anyone has noticed, I’ve been ‘reading’ Heist Society and Madame Tussade for a few weeks now. At least. But I am also now allegedly reading Matched and The Goddess Test. Am I reading all of these books right now? Yes. And no. I have started all of these books. I had to stop reading the first two due to exams, but I have one more exam left and started reading the last two yesterday. Which will I finish first? Probably The Goddess Test as it appears to be the thinnest, and I’ve spent mosts of my day reading it already, instead of revising.

Anyway, I’ll let you know who one the race. And be honest. Have you ever read more than one book at a time and what do you think the reason is for this? Are you doing it right now? If so, please comment and tell me what you’re reading 🙂

Action May 16, 2012

The Kane Chronicles: The Serpent’s Shadow

Goodbye! For now!

Best Quote: MANY! But I don’t want to give too much away.

Shocking Resolution (No spoiler): The resolution to the love triangle between Walt, Sadie and Anubis.
Favourite Appearance: Neith, goddess of hunting and weaving
Favourite Magician: Apart from the Kanes (and Walt is too easy), it has to be Felix. He is soo cute! Got to love him and his penguins.
Useless information I have gained: The names and purpose of the five parts of the soul, as dictated by Egyptian Mythology.

This is the grand finale to the epic trilogy that is The Kane Chronicles. It does not disappoint as Riordan has included a lot of action, drama, and of course, CHAOS! Once again, Carter and Sadie both narrate- and interrupt each other from time to time. They do a bit of travelling, although I would have to say that the travel in the other books was a bit more extensive. The travelling in this novel is mostly through the Duat rather that actual places that we know of, such as how they travelled to Russia in the previous novel.

Relax because Anubis does indeed make an appearance, thank the gods. I very much like him but Riordan does not focus very much on his character development, possibly because this is not a YA Romance novel. I guess we must all just leave the majority of his character to our imaginations… Similarly, Zia Rashid, Carter’s crush, is also here. I really like her and you will be happy with their ending, although there is a bit of an awkward chapter here. Read it and then you will understand.

At the centre of this novel is the struggle between good and evil- Ma’at and Isfet. I’m not a fan of Apophis, but I really linked Kronos from the Percy Jackson series. I’m not sure why. He was incredibly cruel and sadistic. Maybe more so than Apophis. This is rather typical of children’s novels but I like how sometimes the right choice does not seem obvious. Although the prophecy is not as clear as that of Percy Jackson, one thing is made clear from the beginning- Apophis will swallow Ra. So technically it’s not like I was giving you a spoiler.

I rather liked the opening to this novel, although I think it kind of gave away too much. Having said that, there is no way that they would have recorded their account of how they saved the world if they had not been there to do so. Therefore, it was already clear that Apophis failed but the novel is not so much about ‘Will the world fall?’ but the journey of how they saved the world.

My only actual criticism is that Riordan did not reveal very much about quite a few of the supporting characters. Jaz was in ‘The Throne of Fire’, making her seem fairly important but she did not do very much in ‘The Serpent’s Shadow’. Similarly, I was left wondering which god will Felix follow the path of?

I had expected the problem that arose from saving the world all along, what with the need for balance. This may not make sense right now unless you have read this book, so I advise that you do so immediately. This is me being pushy (haha!). Riordan also implies that whilst this may be the end of the series, you may be seeing more of the magicians in the future. I can’t wait!

I GIVE IT A FIVE STAR RATING!!!

Action February 3, 2012

My Reading List of the Month- JANUARY

So, I am taking the goodreads challenge and I am aiming to read 40 books this year. That probably doesn’t seem very impressive, maybe 50 would have been better rounded but 40 just seemed more realistic to me. So I have read 6 books so far. Goodreads has calculated that this accounts for 15% of my goal, and that I am apparantly 3 books ahead.

So here are the books I read this month. You may notice that I have reviewed most of them already.

Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet of her kind, she nearly pays with her life, only to be spared by a beautiful stranger sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki–a descendant of dragons whose ability to shift into human form is her best defense.

Forced to flee into the mortal world, Jacinda struggles to adapt. The one bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irrestibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will’s dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away – if it dies she will be left a human forever. She’ll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.

This was a very interesting novel, all in all. I enjoyed it and I would recommend it to my friends. It was captivating and kept me wondering. The plot line was somewhat familiar, however. I am not a big fan of the main character falling head over heels with the love interest so quickly. It just gave me a case of dejavu. It reminded me of Twilight, but perhaps it was closer to Evermore. It had a great ending that ended rather quickly for my liking but leaves me wanting more.

FIND MY FULL REVIEW HERE

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

When Meghan Chase finds her life turned upside down, she learns a deep secret that has been hidden from her for all her life. With her brother missing, she finds herself travelling through Faerie in search for him. But not all is lost, for she has help from her best friend, who so happens to be Puck himself. But she is infatuated with the brooding Winter Prince. Armed with inhuman beauty and a deadly sword, he could easily be a foe even more dangerous than she could imagine.

Iron. Ice. A Love Doomed from the Start.

I enjoyed this book greatly. Having read Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series, I needed a fantasy book to fill the void in my heart. The Iron King did that and more. Meghan is a great character. She is loyal, brave, and funny. Whilst characters like Bella Swan would wallow away in their own misery, Meg moves forward and kicks ass!

Pick up a copy!

FIND MY FULL REVIEW HERE

Lost in Time by Melissa de la Cruz

The SIXTH instalment in the Blue Bloods series unfolds.

After their brief bonding ceremony in Italy, Jack Force and Schuyler Van Alen depart for Egypt in search for the Gate of Promise. Mimi Force seeks to find a way to bring her beloved, Marin Kingsley, and revenge from her former bond mate. When the twins of the Apocalypse finally face each other for the blood trial, who will be left standing? Confronted by danger, betrayal, and loss at every turn, the Blue Bloods must find the will to fight- and love- another day.

A superb novel, although I still desperately miss Bliss and Dylan. The characters are seductive and their never ending relationship problems are captivating. Yet Cruz uses the right balance between romance, mystery, and action. This is one to stay on my bookshelf for years to come. Be prepared for Mimi to have a heart!

Lament by Maggie Stiefvater
Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She’s about to find out she’s also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. When a mysterious boy enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of nowhere, Deirdre finds herself infatuated. Trouble is, the enigmatic and conflicted Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin—and Deirdre is meant to be his next mark. Deirdre has to decide if Luke’s feelings towards her are real, or only a way to lure her deeper into the world of Faerie.

Stiefvater successfully captured the essence of faeries. Some were rather playful, such as the delightful Una, whereas others were simply deadly. They often showed up when you least expected and caused a lot of mischief and trouble in their wake. Dee handled most of these situations quite well and she still managed to some realistic. Every hero and heroine needs help from time to time and her close friend, James was just that. There were many twists and turns along the way and the novel was certainly not predictable. My only criticism was its strong resemblance to Julie Kagawa’s The Iron King.

FIND MY FULL REVIEW HERE

Gladiator: Fight for Freedom by Simon Scarrow

It’s Rome, 61 BC. Recruited as a gladiator, young Marcus Cornelius Primus faces a new life of brutal training, governed by strict rules, as he learns the skills of an elite warrior. But Marcus cannot simply forget his past. His father lies murdered by soldiers and his mother has been kidnapped and forced into slavery. Marcus is determined to find his father’s old commander, Pompeius the Great, to seek justice for his family and set his mother free. Yet, unbeknown to him, Marcus is hiding a life-threatening secret. And if the Romans discover it, there will be no escape…

I found this book very enjoyable but rather predictable at times. It is rather like the movie Gladiator with Russel Crowe, but with a child instead. Still, I would not shrug it off so easily. It is a well written book and I enjoyed the twist towards the end.

FIND MY FULL REVIEW HERE

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron Fey, iron-bound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her. Worse, Meghan’s own fey powers have been cut off. She’s alone in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can’t help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

Now, I have heard comments on Goodreads about readers who thought that Meghan came across as a desperate love crazed teenager who simply needed to get over her infatuation- yes, I will use this word again- for the Winter Prince. Personally, I thought that she took it better than a certain depressing character- BELLA SWAN- and DID do her best to get over him. She built a back bone of iron and unlike the vampire crazed, depressed girl, actually did all she could to keep those around her safe. Meg is kick ass, and don’t you forget it.